The BERNOULLIS (/bərˈnuːli/ ) were a patrician family of merchants
and scholars, originally from
AntwerpAntwerp , who resettled in
BaselBasel ,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland . The name is sometimes misspelled Bernou-Ill-i and
mispronounced accordingly. Over the course of three generations, the
Bernoullis produced eight mathematically gifted academics who, between
them, contributed to the foundations of applied mathematics and
physics.

Leon Bernoulli was a doctor in
AntwerpAntwerp , which, at that time, was in
the Spanish Netherlands. He died in 1561, and in 1570 his son, Jacob,
emigrated to
Frankfurt am MainFrankfurt am Main to escape from the Spanish persecution
of the Huguenots . Jacob’s grandson, a spice trader, also named
Jacob, moved to
BaselBasel ,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland in 1620, and was granted Swiss
citizenship. His son, Niklaus (1623-1708), Leon’s
great-great-grandson, married Margarethe Schönauer. The Bernoulli
family was related by marriage to the prominent French academic
dynasty,
Curie family through
Johann BernoulliJohann Bernoulli (1667-1748).

Niklaus had three sons, who became the foundation of the dynasty of
mathematicians:

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